The Little Bits
by Society's Failure
Summary: A series of drabbles in the Naruverse, featuring canon, AU, and just some random stuff because I'm too lazy to write a lot. Will be mostly NaruSaku with other random bits, rating will change prolly
1. Wrong Words

_**I was reading an article on MSN, and I saw something that was like "23 Ways To Say I Love You," and the very first one made me laugh so hard just because and then personal reasons only a certain person will get, that this came to mind.**_

...

Naruto knew quite well how exactly he felt for her. In fact, he knew it so well he could sit there and think about it for hours and hours, and it never grow old. She was on his mind constantly, to the point he honestly had to question himself whether it was healthy or not.

But he couldn't bring himself to say it to her directly.

He'd thought the words plenty of times. Written them down, gone through the motions, came so close to saying it...

But he still hadn't told his Sakura-chan "I love you."

Maybe it was just a defect of some sort. An incapability to pair those three words together into one sentence with that much meaning... An odd handicap, but it wouldn't surprise him. Not with how much trouble he was having.

It was truly frustrating. So many moments had come and gone where it would have been perfect; the perfect time to finally let her know just how much he cared. It was one of those things that was taken as general knowledge, but it would mean much more if the confirmation of the fact was said aloud, and in person, and with a sincerity matched by nothing else.

Maybe he'd finally have the guts to say it while they were watching a movie, on that Friday night. He was sitting up straight, with her head propped on a pillow on his lap while they watched some gory horror flick; they were her favourites, and who was he to deny her what she wanted, even if it scared the everliving out of him? By the end of the movie, she was yawning and the time that he spent struggling to keep his eyes open grew longer and longer.

Okay, maybe a horror movie wasn't the best time to say it. Not his best plan, no.

"Time to go to bed, scaredy-cat," she teased him before stretching as she got up, making her way towards the first room of the apartment they had shared since they had started college.

"I don't need your back-talk, woman. Go to sleep," he snorted in return as he followed her.

She laughed at him, but made sure to wrap her arms around his neck and hug him before she entered her room. "Goodnight, Naruto," she yawned, turning to close the door behind her.

"Wait."

The door stopped, and she leaned against the doorframe with a raised brow. "What is it?" She asked him, stifling another yawn behind a hand.

Dumbstruck for a moment, the blonde felt himself grow tongue-tied. He almost went to say never mind, and to just duck down the hallway to his own room, but he swallowed down the hesitation, determined that this would be the night he finally said it.

"Sakura."

"...Yeeeeeeeees?"

"You are the syrup on my waffles."

Wait, what? Naruto blinked once, and felt heat rise in his cheeks. Okay. That was so not what he meant to say. Though...

She smiled, and laughed in that way she did when he'd done something sweet.

"I love you, too, Naruto."

The roseate clicked the door behind her reply, leaving him standing in the middle of the hallway, flabbergasted. Well... At least she knew what he meant. And as he dragged his feet to his room, he supposed that was all that mattered.


	2. Behind Closed Doors

_**Omg drabbles. So there was this stupid thing I saw on dA, a writer's meme thing. You shuffle your iPod, and with THE VERY NEXT SONG as your inspiration, you write an idea in ONLY the span of the song. YOU CANNOT THINK ABOUT IT BEFOREHAND OR OVERPASS THE LIMIT. OR ELSE. So yeah. This is where I will put that nonsense. All of my drabbles made in this fashion will go hur.I will put the name of the song I used at the top, and the songname will be the chapter title thing. **_

_**Behind Closed Doors – Rise Against**_

…

He had that stupid grin he always had on.

How could he still have it? I mean really. We were sitting in the makeshift camp that had been erected in the face of finding the enemy base, smoke billowing in the air around. An enemy patrol had found us, and the ambush had already started.

But still he smiled as he told us how to strategize our small forces, how to use the small amount of manpower in our ranks. He seemed so… Chipper.

I was tempted to punch him right then and there, but I was too busy healing one of those that had already fallen.

"… Now, Shikamaru, use that weird strangling jutsu thing you have with your shadows to buy me some time. I'll get my shadow clones around the vicinity to make us seem bigger. Temari, I want you start a whirlwind right in the middle to cause confusion. Guys, if you see red… Well, get the hell outta dodge, cause shit's going down." Still, he smiled, and this time at me.

And right then, I realized how much I actually loved that blonde idiot with the stupid grin.

"You're insane, Naruto!" Temari yelled at him, looking doubtful.

"So? That's what makes it fun."

But he was still a really big idiot.


	3. Los Angeles

_**Los Angeles – The Audition**_

He watched her as she packed her bags, leaning tensely against the doorway. The worn wood jabbed into his shoulder, but as he looked on with a distant expression, he really didn't care.

"You okay?" she asked him, pulling herself up from the ground where she had been folding clothes into her suitcase. A slight hand deftly swiped a pink strand of hair out of her face.

"Mmm?" he questioned, caught up in his own thoughts.

"You. You okay, Naruto?" Sakura asked, stretching her arms out in front of her before walking over to where he stood.

"Uhh… Yeah." He replied shortly, making no progress in his attempt to disguise the growing despair in his heart.

Looking out the window to the room, he sighed. His hands clenched into hard fists against his chest, and he felt like a statue just standing there, trying to maintain his composure.

He felt the arms wrap around his middle, forcing his own to open and reciprocate the hug.

"Hey. It's not like I'll be gone forever, Naruto."

"But-"

"No buts! It's a year. I'll be back before you know it. You can always come visit me, you know." The roseate pulled away for a moment, her viridian eyes meeting his with a confident gleam. "I'd like that. So you should do it, 'kay?" she told him.

"… But I-" he started, the desperation he felt trying to express itself.

"I said no buts."

'm going to miss you. But she didn't hear it.

She didn't want to.

Because she was going to miss him too.


	4. The Running Man

_**The Running Man – The Audition**_

...

Sometimes, he wished he could just run away from his emotions.

They didn't help him any. They just created bonds that he couldn't break, made chains to people he couldn't escape from...

And right now, they were preventing him from being able to do anything right. Looking at the woman next to him, his hand splayed across the dip of her waist softly, a whisper of a touch if that at all.

She didn't know the power she held over him, no. His hand moved up to her upper arm. He was constantly distracted, not able to focus... Missions were ending in failure because of his utter compulsion to make her his priority. And she didn't see it. She didn't realize just what he would do for her.

Anything. He would give anything for her, and she didn't know it. His fingers grazed along her cheek gently. It wasn't a good thing to realize, either. It was a weakness beyond any other, and it was something he was having a hard time getting accustomed to. No matter how hard he tried to express how he felt, he just couldn't tell if she felt nearly the same way. The tips of his fingers settled at her lips, and he felt her breath against his skin as she slept.

He was bound to her, cuffed and beaten, and she didn't even care.

If he could do anything, he would stop it. He would stop the way he felt, and let himself free of her. If he couldn't know, he needed to escape.

But he didn't know how to.


	5. If You Can't Live Without Me

_If You Can't Live Without Me, Why Aren't You Dead Yet? –Mayday Parade_

_

* * *

_

He looked around the room, a grin on his face.

He was happy, there, with his friends. He'd laugh and he'd joke and he'd drink and he'd make fun. He'd participate, yes. And that was all everyone cared about, yes? That he played his part in the group. That he made an active effort to be there, and to be happy, no matter the circumstances. And when he wasn't happy? Well, that he appreciated their attempts to make him feel better, and, after a bit, feel better.

But what he couldn't get over was that dull ache that constantly gnawed at his stomach. It was always there, even when he wasn't fully aware of it. Every time he smiled, there was something frowning inside. Every time he laughed, there was a heavy sigh deep down. Every time he tried to be just… Happy, there was the reminder that she wasn't there.

So he put on a bigger grin, and he laughed even harder, and he joked a lot more, and he drunk twice as much, and he made fun of everything. Because no one could know just how much he missed her, in every waking moment. Every sleeping one, too. If they knew that, how would he be able to pull off being okay when she was away, when he knew she was having a perfectly good time with other people?

How would he be able to pull off feeling so desperate he'd do anything just to be with her? The point being, he couldn't. And he couldn't tell her that, no. That would just cause problems. That was the last thing he ever would want to do.

"Naruto?"

The voice of the shy Hyuuga girl said into his ear. He offered her a smile, and laughed a greeting.

But he still felt the gnawing at his stomach, and the pain in his heart. The misery of knowing even around all these people, he still felt so alone without _her._


End file.
